I’ve long followed the maxim “you’ll never know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been.” It’s been a guidepost for me in more or less everything I’ve ever set out to learn. And as the editors of the new “Foundations of Conservation Biology; A Guide to the Classic Literature” clearly demonstrate in their creation and organization of the book, it’s a maxim that they very much believe to be one worthy of following as well.